Lamine Yamal has become a pivotal player in the first team, embodying both on-field brilliance and off-field commercial appeal.
“This kid is going to be a bomb,” Xavi Hernández said the first day Lamine Yamal joined the first team. He was 15 years old and playing in the Cadet team at that time. Now, at 16, the boy has cemented his place in the first team. In fact, he’s carrying the weight of a struggling Barça, alongside his friend Pau Cubarsí, with whom he has grown as a player in all categories, becoming the great hope for Barcelona fans.
This sentiment has only strengthened after both played significant roles against Napoli and in recent matches for the Blaugrana. They first crossed paths in Barcelona’s youth team during the 2018-19 season when Pau joined La Masia for the first time. Lamine had already been in Barcelona’s academy for several years, joining at the age of 7 from the small club CF La Torreta, guided by Jordi Roura and Aureli Altimira, the architects behind the talents now emerging in the first team. They planted the seeds and nurtured their growth, and now Xavi is reaping the rewards.
The young forward was always ahead of his peers, inspired by the football of Neymar and his idol, Leo Messi. You can see it in his movements. Starting from the wing and cutting inside, his style is imaginative, and he possesses a physique similar to the Brazilian: agile, slender, electric, brimming with technique and ball control. He’s currently working to refine it further. In fact, as reported by Mundo Deportivo, he has gained 7 kilograms of muscle mass this season. Quite a feat.
His footballing prowess remained the same whether at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper or in Rocafonda square, the humble neighborhood of Mataró where he grew up with his family. Now, they are always by his side at the stadium, with the Yamal contingent being the largest among the squad.
From his family, the most important influence on the young Barcelona academy graduate has always been football, keeping him focused and preventing distractions. He knows exactly where he comes from and the sacrifices he had to make to reach where he is. That’s why he celebrates his goals by tracing the numbers 3, 0, and 1, representing the last digits of his neighborhood’s postal code.
He’s a very responsible young man. His mother, from Equatorial Guinea, has played a significant role in shaping his attitude. She has been the one who has been most involved in his upbringing, although his father, of Moroccan origin, has also been there for him wherever he has gone whenever possible. He remembers those early morning train trips to take him to games, journeys that shaped the now Barcelona forward and Spanish national team player. His decision to play for Spain was a personal one, reflecting his affection for his roots but his life is here.
His grounding will be crucial moving forward to keep him grounded. What matters most to those around him is that he stays focused on playing football because Lamine Yamal is becoming a magnet for sponsors. According to Ferran Martinez of Mundo Deportivo, the Barcelona forward has already switched from Nike to Adidas, the brand of the Spanish national team, which has made him a global icon this year for the Euros, adorning Barcelona with his face under the slogan “the future doesn’t wait.” Furthermore, his representation agency led by super agent Jorge Mendes has established a communication and marketing consultancy: “The Underdogs Agency”, primarily aimed at handling the affairs of the young Catalan forward, who has as much potential off the field as he does on it.
